The bombers that bombed Soviet airfields did not appear there by chance. The Luftwaffe was ordered to provide the strongest support possible in the event of the attack of Manstein's forces.

Therefore, German Reich Field Marshal Green, who was in charge of commanding air force operations on the Eastern Front, gave Manstein the greatest support.

More than 400 bombers were grouped together to carry out regional air suppression in response to the battle for the Highway 4 bridge.

Including 180 Stuka bombers, and more than 220 Ju-88 twin-engine medium bombers. The aircraft, escorted by more than 100 ME-109E fighters, attacked all ground targets in the area.

These planes took off to patrol and bomb at the time of Manstein's general offensive, and were lucky enough to spot the Soviet field airfield preparing to take off.

The field airfields of the Soviet army were originally well concealed, evading most of the German reconnaissance planes and not being destroyed by bombing.

But this exposure allowed the Luftwaffe to seize the opportunity. In an instant, a bomb fell, blowing up the plane parked on the runway into a state of parts.

At the same time, the German rocket artillery units poured their own rockets onto the Soviet positions, and the dense explosions made the attacking Germans feel afraid.

The chief of staff of the Soviet army, who was raising artillery, had just rushed back to his artillery position at this time.

As a result, he painfully found that the timing of the German all-out attack was just right, and the timing of the Soviet army's counterattack on Highway Bridge No. 4 was all destroyed by the Germans.

At least in this well-planned attack, Manstein's command skills, as well as the ability of the various branches of the German military to execute and cooperate, far surpassed the Soviet army.

In this case, the Soviet army appeared passive everywhere, and it is not something difficult to explain.

The Soviet army, which had undergone a major purge, was somewhat unable to keep up with the rhythm in terms of response, and the gap in the quality of commanders was very obvious.

Especially in the battle of the German special forces, the sense of vigilance was insufficient, and after the loss of the Highway 4 bridge, it immediately fell into a total passivity.

Budyonny, who was sitting in the headquarters and didn't know what was going on near the Route 4 bridge, got several passive messages at this time.

First of all, the German bombers happened to attack the Soviet field airfield, and the task of bombing the No. 4 highway bridge could only be postponed to the farther air force.

Another passive news was that the attack of Soviet units on the front line near the highway bridge No. 4 failed, the Soviet positions were squeezed and moved further and further away from the highway bridge.

It is obviously impossible to expect the ground forces to recapture or destroy the road bridge. Now Budyonny had to find another way to stop the Germans advancing towards Vitebsk.

"How many of us are there in Vitebsk?" Budyonny turned back to his chief of staff, who was curious to know how long Vitebsk could hold out.

"About 10,000 ......" the chief of staff looked wonderful, and the number of answers also made Budyonny's face wonderful.

Originally, there was still a long way to go from the front line, and the defense of Vitebsk was not as strong as it had been.

The defense of the city itself was borne by the troops of the 2 armies that stood in front of it, as well as the road 4 bridge.

When the troops stationed in these areas were withdrawn and retreated back to Vitebsk little by little, that is, when the defense of Vitebsk was really completed.

However, the ideal resistance did not appear, but was beaten out by the Germans and directly took down the vital highway bridge.

The Soviet army near Vitebsk completely collapsed, and the outlying armies of both armies were closed and squeezed in a narrow defensive line.

And behind the two Soviet armies, including the bridge and the reserve units of the three divisions, all became the appetizers of the Manstein cluster.

What is even more embarrassing is that the loss of tens of thousands of troops, and the surrounding troops are not able to reinforce due to the distance, and the garrison of Vitebsk is weak.

There were only 10,000 soldiers, which was almost as good as giving away for nothing for the German army, without any pressure.

Manstein's mechanized infantry stormed Vitebsk on 28 April, the day the offensive began, four hours faster than planned.

Although street fighting broke out, the Soviet garrison was insufficient to establish an effective defensive line in the neighborhoods.

All Budyonny could do was to push his troops and desperately move closer to Vitebsk, trying to reinforce enough troops before the Germans could take it.

However, the rest of the troops were too far away, and they could not reach the designated position in time, so they could only watch the Germans attack Vitebsk.

Most of the Soviet troops did not dare to leave their positions, they were afraid that once they fell into a field battle, they would be surrounded and annihilated by German armored forces in a field state.

So the Soviet troops, who dared to reinforce in the direction of Vitebsk, were actually not the main forces, they were not many in number and their combat effectiveness was not strong.

After all, most of the surrounding Soviet troops also have their own tasks on their own, and it is impossible to leave everything behind and gamble their lives to get closer to Vitebsk.

So, despite Budyonny's constant orders to defend Vitebsk, no reinforcements approached that night.

Inside the city, the Germans fought fiercely with the Soviet defenders all night. In the early morning of the next day, April 29, 1941, the Germans planted the banner of victory on the head of Vitebsk.

One of the two bridgeheads that the Soviets had inadvertently built to threaten the German flanks was uprooted by the Germans in a day and a night.

And at the same time as Manstein stormed Vitebsk, Guderian, the Führer's scythe, also showed his bold aggressiveness.

While the Red Flag of the Soviet Union was still flying at the head of Vitebsk, Gudelhi packed his bags and rushed to Smolensk.

At this time, the headquarters where Budyonny was located, that is, the headquarters of the Soviet Budyonny Regiment in the center, completely became the front line.

Smolensk, the most important target that Stalin ordered the Budyonny Corps to guard, also became a real front-line city at this moment.

Guderian's armored forces advanced along the railway line and the Dnieper, while the Soviets, due to their inferiority, had to continue to retreat and gather around Smolensk.

Now, the Germans are only one last threshold away from their ultimate goal, Moscow: as long as Smolensk is taken, Moscow is in front of their eyes!